An injured worker that contacted my office six months ago didn’t hire us because I told him something different than the lawyer he ended up choosing.
This worker has a serious back injury and is going to receive TTD benefits for about two years or so. He’s paying his ex wife child support and didn’t want to have to give her any of his TTD check. We told him the truth which was not what he wanted to hear. The truth is that child support can be deducted from TTD if the ex gets a court order. This other lawyer told him that we didn’t know what we were talking about and that if he hired him, he’d make sure that no work comp benefits went anywhere other than his own pocket. That sounded great to the caller so he went with this otherChicago workers’ compensation law firm.
Flash forward six months later and this worker calls me, asking if I’ll take over the case. He said that it turned out that his lawyer was lying and now even denies stating that he could get around a child support order.
The Illinois Income Withholding Support Act states that income is:
“[A]ny form of periodic payment to an individual, regardless of source, including, but not limited to: wages, salary, commission, compensation as an independent contractor, workers’ compensation, disability, annuity, pension, and retirement benefits, lottery prize awards, insurance proceeds, vacation pay, bonuses, profit-sharing payments, interest, and any other payments, made by any person, private entity, federal or state government, any unit of local government, school district or any entity created by Public Act; however, "income" excludes:…”
In other words, it’s just about everything. There isn’t a loophole to get out of paying child support just because you got hurt on the job.
We have lost a lot of potential clients over the years because we never give a sales job or tell callers what they want to hear. We will tell you that we’ll fight for you, which is true. We will tell you that we have a state wide network of some of the most experienced, successful and caring work comp lawyers, which is true. But we’ll never promise a result or as in this case, make something up just to get you to sign up with us. We always tell our clients to think long term as to what’s best for them. A lie is a short tem benefit that doesn’t help anyone in the long term.
My advice to anyone that hears different things from different lawyers is to do one of two things: 1. Ask for evidence. If the caller had asked me way back when to show proof on my child support claim, I would have. Had he asked the other attorney to do the same he would have been met with silence. 2. If you can’t get proof, get a third opinion. If multiple lawyers are telling you the same thing and only one say something else, you can usually bet that the majority is correct.
And if none of that works, remember, if it seems too good to be true then it probably is.
We are workers’ compensation attorneys who help people with Illinois work injuries anywhere in IL via our statewide network of attorneys. Contact us and we will answer your questions or find the right lawyer for your situation.
